If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't let my 12 year old child going camping with ANY adult.

columbia wrote:If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't let my 12 year old child going camping with ANY adult.

columbia wrote:If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't let my 12 year old child going camping with ANY adult.

columbia wrote:If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't let my 12 year old child going camping with ANY adult.

I am an enormous advocate of the Boy Scouts. I continue to coach merit badges and donate to the program. I had a pretty tough home life as a teenager and scouting was a place I could go to get away from it, learn important life skills, and light things on fire one week a year.

I was asked this exact question when I did my Eagle Scout Board of Review around the time of BSA vs. Dale was upheld by the Supreme Court.

My answer? The Oath of Boy Scouts is explicit in that scouting has a foundation in Christian teachings. As such the majority of Scout troops are sponsored by churches. Phrases such as "doing my duty to God..." and "keep myself...morally straight" are right in the Oath. Being an atheist or gay person does not make you a bad person, but it does exclude you from being able to take the Oath.

I also said I was not uncomfortable with the idea of gay leadership and that excluding gays could deprive scouts of valuable leaders. I thought in the end it should be a troop's decision to make.

columbia wrote:If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader.

Having said that, I probably wouldn't let my 12 year old child going camping with ANY adult.

columbia wrote:If I had a 12 year old daughter, I sure as hell wouldn't let her go on a Girl Scout camping trip where a man was there "supervising."

I would feel the same way about a 12 year old son and a gay Boy Scout leader

That's kind of an interesting take I haven't thought about before. Would you be ok with a gay man supervising a Girl Scout trip?

There is a large enough number of women involved with Boy Scouting, whether as Scout Masters, merit badge counselors, or executives. My mom's best friend went camping with her son's troop. The person who asked me the question about homosexuality at my board was a woman.

I was very involved in scouting in my youth and am disappointed they've taken such a strong "anti gay" stance. However, it's certainly within their rights to do so, and it's within the rights of sponsors to withdraw their support in light of evolving public opinion.

BSA receive a lot of indirect support from the federal government. Like endorsements from federal officials, support from the US military, exclusive use of federal lands for negligible fees (as in $1/year), etc.

This topic = yawn. When the economy drops off the cliff into the abyss - those of us left will huddle around a burning garbage can and laugh about how we actually used to talk about things like gay boy scout leaders.

DropEmJayBird wrote:This topic = yawn. When the economy drops off the cliff into the abyss - those of us left will huddle around a burning garbage can and laugh about how we actually used to talk about things like gay boy scout leaders.

You might need a Boy Scout to light that fire w/ sticks

Yes, I did do that once. It friggen' took forever. Now I carry a 9volt battery and steel wool (as well as a lighter) in my emergency kit in my car. A much better fire starter.

Liberal-leaning members are going to call the Boy Scouts a discriminatory organization and support other sponsors pulling funding.

Conservative-leaning members are going to firmly stand behind the Boy Scouts, celebrating them for sticking to their values and not being forced to take the gay agenda.

People in between (libertarians, etc) may personally support the Boy Scouts but are conflicted about their stance on gay members, and how it coincides with their religious associations.

The End.

Your showing where you lean... its more like this:

People in between (libertarians, etc) may personally think gay people deserve an opportunity to join the boy scouts but really don't care because I was always thought the boy scouts was a gay association

shafnutz05 wrote:People in between (libertarians, etc) may personally support the Boy Scouts but are conflicted about their stance on gay members, and how it coincides with their religious associations.

The standard libertarian position would be that private organizations like the Boy Scouts should be perfectly able to choose who they wish to admit as members, on whatever basis they choose. Thus, they could choose to refuse membership to any group for any reason or no reason at all. Of course, libertarians would also say that the Boy Scouts should not receive any government sponsorship or money, as it’s not the job of the government to fund or support private organizations.